Watch Alice Cooper in ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’

NBC's decision to mount a Jesus Christ Superstar revival for Easter — and air it as a live musical — could have been a train wreck, but audiences and critics alike applauded the broadcast last night, with Alice Cooper's appearance as King Herod drawing some of the most effusive praise of the night.

Cooper's scene-stealing performance, which you can check out below, inspired a flood of tweets from viewers, with one proclaiming, "From now on, I will ONLY play Herod in my family's annual nativity, wearing THAT suit, THOSE boots. And a skull walking stick." As another succinctly put it, "Alice Cooper saved Easter."

As previously reported, Cooper has played King Herod before, singing the part during a performance captured on a 2000 recording with the cast of the 1996 revival. For that and a host of other reasons, he wasn't surprised to get the offer to play Herod in the NBC broadcast, but that doesn't mean he didn't give the role some thought — or make an attempt to understand the character's point of view.

"It's very cynical, and he's very cynical," Cooper told Rolling Stone. "To prepare for the role, I keep thinking, 'Who's the most cynical character that this could be?' And I keep coming back to Alan Rickman. He would have been the perfect Herod. So that's the way I want to do it."

As Cooper noted, he had a leg up on a few of his castmates in that he's "in front of a live audience 99 percent of the time" — and that's where he'll be this summer when he heads out for the next round of North American tour dates in support of his 2017 Paranormal LP. Look over the complete list of currently announced dates here.